I'm writing from the Bryn Mawr College Art and Artifacts Collection, where we have recently completed our initial migration of data from a disparate collection of Access databases to a formal collections management database. Ours is a diverse study collection that includes archaeological and anthropological artifacts as well as fine arts objects. We're wondering how other collections are dealing with cataloging culture and nationality information for objects that have cultural groups as makers as opposed to individual, known makers (also, where the cultural group may or may not always correspond to the same geographical region). Our concerns mainly center around objects of African and Native American origin.
Though we're most specifically interested in how this data is stored in the cataloging system (i.e. Is the culture/nationality of the object entered into a designated "culture/nationality" field? Is an artist/creator record created for the entire cultural group? etc.), any general comments on cataloging anthropological and archaeological collections are also welcome. If anyone has a perspective on this that they would like to share, even if it's of the "Oh my god, whatever you do, just don't do it this way" variety, we'd certainly appreciate it. Good wishes, Cheryl -- Cheryl Klimaszewski Collections Information Manager Bryn Mawr College 101 North Merion Avenue Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 office 610-526-5093 cklimaszew at brynmawr.edu
